


Sandcastles

by EuphoricSound



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Community: cottoncandy_bingo, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Shameless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-01
Updated: 2012-11-01
Packaged: 2017-11-17 12:17:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/551490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EuphoricSound/pseuds/EuphoricSound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper uses a trip to the beach to observe two of the team members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sandcastles

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this drabble for the Fluff Bingo prompt “sandcastles,” as you can tell from my highly original title. Warning: Shameless, shameless, unapologetic fluff
> 
> Thanks to Sidhera, Eiluned, and sneakronicity for their input!

Pepper Potts loved the beach. The sand, the sun, the waves, the soothing…cacophony that came from every member of Tony’s new team being within 20 feet of her beach chair. She sighed. What had started as a relaxing day for just the two of them had somehow become an excursion that included the entire group, though she couldn't fathom exactly what he’d told them to make sure they showed up. “Team building!” He had quipped when she’d begun to question him. They arrived separately, but set up places to sit generally near one another.

At least it made for interesting people watching. Tony and Steve were seated beside her, and Tony was picking on Steve relentlessly. Choice of swim shorts, his choice of magazine (a newspaper), his choice of words. She rolled her eyes and grinned. Thor was in the water, entertaining a group of children by dragging them around on their boogie boards. Bruce was lying under an umbrella, reading quietly.

She scanned the beach for Clint and Natasha. She had been surprised they had come in the first place. The agents were about fifty feet away, far enough to be separate from the group, but not so far that she couldn’t hear their voices travel over the sand. Of all of them, they were the only two that had arrived together apart from herself and Tony, pulling up beyond the sand barrier in one of SHIELD’s vehicles.

“Clint, if you are set on building a sandcastle, at least to do it right.”

“There is nothing wrong with my sandcastle!” His voice was indignant.

“It is completely indefensible. Just look at the south wall. You could take the place with ten guys without breaking a sweat.”

“Well, let’s see you put your money where your mouth is, Romanoff.” The archer replied, grinning wickedly.

And so Pepper Potts watched as Natasha, the deadly Black Widow, and Clint Barton, possibly the best marksman she had ever seen, set to work building the world’s most impenetrable…sandcastle. She couldn’t help but smile. She suspected, and had for quite some time, that there was something between the two SHIELD agents. There was a synergy between the two, an almost tangible line of connection that existed between them whenever they were in the same room. In truth, Pepper loved trying to figure them out, and loved it even more that even Tony couldn't get an accurate read on them.

“Okay, we’re going to need higher walls on those turrets. And we can use some driftwood for the portcullis if we can find any.” Natasha was saying, tone all business.

“I’ll find the driftwood, and I’ll get some more water while I’m up, but we should finish the north battlements before building anything higher. Wouldn’t want the whole thing coming down too soon just because we rushed into it.” Clint said as he rose, lifting a bucket and grinning broadly down at the redhead.

Pepper felt her eyes widen as Natasha leveled a glare at him that would have taken the breath out of most people. Clint (quickly) turned on his heel, and Natasha smiled slowly as she regarded his departing form. Was she staring at…yes, Pepper believed she was.

The castle slowly became massive as the two agents set to their task with military precision, working through the afternoon. The easy banter that rolled between the two was enough to keep her grinning as the day grew long. So engrossed was she in her eavesdropping that she jumped when she felt Tony’s hand on her arm.

“Don’t you think that’s a little rude?” He said, arching an eyebrow and tilting his head at her in that infuriating way of his.

“What is? Reading?”

“Ah. Yes, you've been reading the same page for twenty minutes.”

“It’s…an interesting read.” She stammered, though she could feel a grin spreading across her face.

“I agree!” He said, his own smile turning devilish. “But I’m hungry, and bored. And the sun is going down. Let’s go for Chinese.”

And so it was that they started packing up, each of the others pausing to admire the agents’ handiwork as they made their way towards their vehicles. Thor, in particular, was impressed. “Indeed, this is a fine fortress! But the people…they would have to be very tiny.” He mused thoughtfully.

Natasha looked down at her hands and forearms. “I think Clint and I should wash the sand off before we get back in the car. We’ll meet up with you.” She said, and turned to stride toward the water. Even in sand, Pepper thought, she managed to be utterly graceful. Clint nodded to the others and followed after her.

They made it as far as Tony’s car before she stopped short as she rummaged through her bags. “Tony…my book. It must have fallen out on the beach.” She groaned as his eyebrows shot up.

His eyebrows shot up. “Really? Fell out? Should I be worried about mental degradation, Miss Potts?”

She swatted at him. “Wait here, I’ll run back and look around.”

Dusk was settling over the beach as she made her way back, working her way around a sand dune to where they’d been sitting. She stopped short at the sound of laughter. Following the sound with her gaze, she felt her eyes widen as they settled on the sand castle. She could see Clint and Natasha seated together in the middle of it, it’s walls and towers rising up around them protectively. Their skin was still drying from their swim. He leaned close and tugged at a damp strand of her hair as he whispered something too low for Pepper to pick up, but Natasha laughed again, a musical sound. She moved closer and settled into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and dipping her head down to kiss him, hands moving to either side of his face as she muttered something back to him. Whatever it was made him smile up at her, his face filled with unguarded affection. He wrapped an arm around her waist and used the other to pull Natasha close, kissing her collarbone and throat before bringing his mouth back to hers. 

As the kiss became more passionate, Pepper allowed her eyes to slip away, turning around and making her way back to the car, abandoning her book, and other lost things, to the sand and sea.


End file.
